NASA, however, maintains that none of these small asteroids were heading directly towards us. And even if they did enter the atmosphere, they would probably burn up and disintegrate, with detritus falling into the ocean or land–but not enough to cause serious damage to the Earth, according to UK asteroid expert Dr. Emily Baldwin.

The Lincoln Near Earth Asteroid Research (LINEAR) team has been monitoring 2011 MD since telescopes in Socorro, New Mexico, discovered it on June 22nd.